There are 94 naturally occurring elements, from Hydrogen to Plutonium. Together, they make up everything in the entire world. Affecting each of our lives in countless ways, they are commodities crucial to the way that we live. They are the untold stories of our physical existence.

Motivated by the speed at which we're using up our mineral resources, documentary producer and director Mike Paterson today launches 94 Elements, a new web-based filmmaking project bringing together award-winning filmmakers and the best emerging filmmaking talent to create original films about the endless ways each element affects our daily lives.

With support from Wellcome Trust, Paterson has already commissioned Sundance-winner Nino Kirtadze and BAFTA-winner Marc Isaacs for the first two films. In order to reach the total of 94 films, each telling its own story, 94 Elements needs help from you. There are three ways you can get involved:

Become part of the project on the 94 Elements Indiegogo campaign by donating. You'll get to help decide which films are made over the lifetime of the project, and in return team you will receive some fantastic rewards that the team have created for you.

If you're a filmmaker, there are 2 opportunities (click on 'Pitch your films') to win $8000 to make a new film for the project. You have 4 weeks to pitch your ideas!

Watch the first films by Sundance-winner Nino Kirtadze, BAFTA-winner Marc Isaacs, and Paterson now on the project website and share across your social networks!

To accompany the films, 94 Elements is also launching a dynamic digital platform for the project to explore our complex relationships with our resources. Working with the award-winning design studio Catalogtree, the platform will combine Twitter streams and live commodity prices for each element with resource mapping features using geological and commodity data from the UN and US Geological Survey to create an innovative visualisation of our daily interactions with our mineral resources.